I rise tonight to mark the passing of a stalwart of the Dayboro community, Mr William Rowe, who was born on 16 June 1926 and passed away on 5 May 2010. His funeral was attended by hundreds of people in the community who wanted to pay their last respects to a man who was heavily involved in his community and the dairy industry and was a well-loved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

Bill’s daughter, Sandra Martin, and son, Niel Rowe, delivered the eulogies about his life, his family, his war service and his farming capabilities. Pat Rowley, whom all members here would know was an institution within the Queensland dairy industry, spoke about Bill’s over 40-year involvement in the dairy industry. He said that there are few dairy farmers in South-East Queensland who have not received some benefit from Bill’s involvement.

Bill was on the board of the Dayboro Cooperative Dairy Association and was deputy chairman. He advanced the transition from the local factory to setting up a new direct supply committee looking after the affairs of 531 members which became the Metropolitan Milk Producers Co-op. Bill Rowe became the secretary of that group and assumed the responsibility of administering the quota supply and the quality requirements of each producer. He continued with the newly formed Premium Milk Producers Co-op and was also involved in the formation of the Dayboro Milk Transport Co-op. Pat described Bill Rowe as quiet, unassuming, forward thinking, honest, fair and operating with absolute integrity in his business dealings.

Richard Hawkins spoke on behalf of the Dayboro War Memorial Association. Richard outlined Bill’s war service-enlisting in the Navy in 1944 at only 17, his posting to a Fairmile patrol boat in the Pacific waters around New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, patrolling and undertaking various operations to assist the war effort in supporting the AIF.

Bill had been the chairman of the war memorial association for many years, and some of the very successful events and projects undertaken under his leadership were the Victory in the Pacific anniversary celebrations, the Australia Remembers celebrations, the Return of the Unknown Soldier ceremony, the 90th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing and, of course, Anzac and Remembrance days.

The construction of the new memorial in the Dayboro Showgrounds was undertaken under Bill’s stewardship and, helped by his ever-loyal wife, Jean, they put in hours and hours of work ensuring that no names were left off the monument. It was fitting that he attended Anzac Day at Dayboro this year and read the names of the fallen. Everyone was grateful that he was still with them.

Glenn Bell, who is chairman of Dayboro and District Rural Fire Brigade, spoke about Bill’s involvement in establishing and running the RFB from 1960 to 2001-a 42-year commitment. The Dayboro Bush Fire Brigade was re-established as Dayboro and District Rural Fire Brigade and Bill was elected to the position of chairman. He was also nominated and elected to the position of fire warden for the Dayboro district, which included Dayboro, Armstrong Creek, Rush Creek, King Scrub and parts of Samsonvale. Locals would obtain their permits to light a fire from Bill. They would ring him for advice on the best time to light their fire, or if they saw or smelled smoke, or to report bushfires or structural fires. On numerous occasions Bill would organise his men, their tractors or bulldozers, trucks and knapsacks and off they would go to confront the advancing flames, sometimes staying away for days at a time.

From all accounts it would appear that Bill Rowe led an ordinary life in the most extraordinary manner. His family, his community and his country were things that mattered most. He was a family man, a returned serviceman, a farmer and a volunteer and he will never be forgotten in Dayboro.